Medical advances, NHS reorganisation and social change make the scenes in these old black and white photos almost unrecognisable to those used to the hospitals of the 2020s.
Yet the doctors, nurses and other staff all these decades ago had the same purpose as their counterparts today - to deliver the best possible care and treatment for their patients.
This selection of pictures from the Evening News archives capture the health service in the Capital 60 or 70 years ago.
When some of these pictures were taken the National Health Service was less than 10 or 20 years old. Have a look through this picture gallery and get a feel for the atmosphere of the time.
5. Sleep monitoring
Sleep monitoring at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. Wires are taped to the volunteers head and readings are recorded on a special machine set up in an adjoining room and watched over by a doctor. The Edinburgh research laboratory was Britain's main research centre into the causes and manifestations of sleep, when this picture was taken in August 1967. | TSPL Photo: Stan Warburton
6. Longmore Hospital
Longmore Hospital, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh, February 1954 | TSPL Photo: TSPL
7. Eastern General trophy winners
Members of the team which won the National Hospital Service Reserve First Aid Units compeition with their trophy at Edinburgh's Eastern General Hospital, November 1954 | TSPL Photo: TSPL
8. Ronnie Corbett drops in
Scottish entertainer Ronnie Corbett visits the children at Princess Margaret Rose hospital in Edinburgh in December 1967 on behalf of the Edinburgh Evening News Odeon Christmas Appeal. | TSPL Photo: Stan Warburton